Without Smith, Panthers ordinary

[Fireball77]

IMO a realist says...we know nothing about this team right now because they haven't played a single regular season game.

[CRA]

SMith had several games where he contributed very little. Interestingly we won most of those. Without Jake we would have won much fewer and without Williams and Steward even less.

Smith is a game changer but is surely not irreplaceable. Would we be hurting? Probably so, but I can think of several other guys who would hurt us just as much.

As for Zod's comment about the Panthers, he runs a great website and is a terrific photographer. But I don't know that he should try and make a living forcasting games, seasons or handicapping the NFL.

so you are saying the guy who led the NFL last season in recieving yards per game contributed very little in several games? There was more to success of the ground game than RBs and the OL......and his name was Steve Smith. Jake was irreplaceable when Carr and Vinny were the options Fox went with........with other options Jake is the best option but I doubt the difference would be as severe now. Shoot, Matt Moore went 2-1 against all division winners and easily could have gone 3-0 as a starter that year (as a rookie).

[Zod]

IMO a realist says...we know nothing about this team right now because they haven't played a single regular season game.

Not sure I agree. I have been to camp. Can compare to what I saw at the last camps. I can base an opinion off that. May change, sure, but as of right now they look ordinary compared to last season.

[Fireball77]

Not saying what you saw is invalid at all.

Just think it's too early to project that realistically to the regular season.

i.e.-NYG were an infighing mess that hated their coach publicly even in the reg season a the beginning of their SB winning year.

[panthers55]

so you are saying the guy who led the NFL last season in recieving yards per game contributed very little in several games? There was more to success of the ground game than RBs and the OL......and his name was Steve Smith. Jake was irreplaceable when Carr and Vinny were the options Fox went with........with other options Jake is the best option but I doubt the difference would be as severe now. Shoot, Matt Moore went 2-1 against all division winners and easily could have gone 3-0 as a starter that year (as a rookie).

Smith had 6 games with 4 or fewer catches. We won 4 of the six. Of those 6 games he was instrumental in winning one of those- Green Bay.

I am just saying that we can win without him. Both Jake and the Williams/Stewart combo are more important to our season. Didn't say he wasn't important, I just don't think he is the most important guy on the team.

[panthers55]

Not sure how saying the Panthers will be pretty ordinary this season is controversial.

If I wanted controversy I would say they are looking to sign Vick.

But you were beaten to the punch by a bunch of others. Every year you predict they will be ordinary so it's no big thing.

Plus you are just mimicking what everyone has said about us. Controversial would be predicting we will go deep in the playoffs.

[Zod]

I am forming my own opinions based on what I see.

Last season I predicted a playoff team and said Delhomme would have a career year.

[panthers55]

I am forming my own opinions based on what I see.

Last season I predicted a playoff team and said Delhomme would have a career year.

One out of 2 ain't bad.

[jkeough]

not trying to stir up trouble here, but nobody in the NFC South is going to be worth a sh1t this year...and yeah yeah esp. the Bucs

[Cat'sGrowl]

"Realists"=Pessimists

I could sit here and give you a dozen reasons why the Bills could realistically go undefeated this year. You don't have to be negative to be real.

Realism is a word pessimists came up to make their opinion sound better to those around them.

[Cat'sGrowl]

not trying to stir up trouble here, but nobody in the NFC South is going to be worth a sh1t this year...and yeah yeah esp. the Bucs

Ahh, I see.

Misery loves company.

Sorry to tell you, but the South is gonna be a top division this year.

Why do you think Zod is so concerned?

[CRA]

Smith had 6 games with 4 or fewer catches. We won 4 of the six. Of those 6 games he was instrumental in winning one of those- Green Bay.

I am just saying that we can win without him. Both Jake and the Williams/Stewart combo are more important to our season. Didn't say he wasn't important, I just don't think he is the most important guy on the team.

It really depends season to season for me.....Jake going down might not be as bad w/ the current backups vs. the Carr/Vinny scenario. Therefore I have Smitty ahead of Jake now. I can't argue if you are going to lump the RBs together.....but there isn't an individual I would currently put ahead of Smith. No doubt in my mind the running game would greatly suffer w/ Moose and Jarrett out wide......I think the Panthers 3rd string QB + Smith makes the passing game a bigger threat than Jake w/o Smith.....based on what we have seen thus far from our players.

[panthers55]

It really depends season to season for me.....Jake going down might not be as bad w/ the current backups vs. the Carr/Vinny scenario. Therefore I have Smitty ahead of Jake now. I can't argue if you are going to lump the RBs together.....but there isn't an individual I would currently put ahead of Smith. No doubt in my mind the running game would greatly suffer w/ Moose and Jarrett out wide......I think the Panthers 3rd string QB + Smith makes the passing game a bigger threat than Jake w/o Smith.....based on what we have seen thus far from our players.

After 2007 I don't see how anyone can think that Smith without Jake would put up big numbers. When Jake went down, Smith disappeared. Even with Moore his numbers suffered greatly. We showed last year that we can still win without Smith. I don't think it would easy but we could. Without Jake we wouldn't win 6 games this year.

[CRA]

Smith had 6 games with 4 or fewer catches. We won 4 of the six. Of those 6 games he was instrumental in winning one of those- Green Bay.

well, actually there were only 4 games w/ 4 or fewer catches...unless you are adding in the postseason then it is 5. And if you want to penalize Smith's impact for Jake's performance in AZ and Oak then.....I don't really won't to debate that. Smith was a consistant impact on the field each and every week.....he is a huge impact even he doesn't touch the ball. Insert Moose into the #1 slot and teams will drastically play Carolina different.